Things I Think…
1. I have Covid crisis exhaustion and I know I have a lot of company. As we set new local records for infections, more and more folks need the type of hope and consolation that only the church can provide…but won’t if it continues to view everything as a political issue…we need to get in our lane like never before…
2. Because we love dividing and hating afterwards…now the “unvaccinated” are being lifted up as the enemy. There are countless people who have medical reasons for not getting the shot…and I really don’t think anyone should have to explain why they make a personal medical decision…
3. Until I can learn to love my enemies, I can’t afford to have any…
4. Loving your enemies doesn’t mean that you can’t set boundaries with people…indeed, that is often the most loving thing you can do…
5. Protesting and exposing corrupt religious leaders is futile unless you do likewise with the people who support them…
6. Within six months of the end of the Mark Driscoll podcast expose, his church will be the same size it was before…personality always trumps accountability…
7. I didn’t think the end times were here until I went to Taco Bell and they didn’t have any sauce at all…
8. Saw this on Twitter…”Whenever you shoot at the crows, you’ll hit a dove”…
9. I think the decline of the church began when the Wednesday night prayer meeting became another lecture…properly taught congregations would have preferred praying…
10. When Duane and I discuss this site we always have one question…what can we do to help? Suggestions?
I think when people are blaming the “unvaccinated”, they are primarily meaning those who don’t have a authentic medical exception or hesitation, but rather the many that instead protest their loss of “freedoms”, or say that tons of people have been killed by the vaccine, or call the vaccine a poison, or the mark of the beast, etc. This segment of people seem to make up the majority of the unvaccinated, or at least their loud and frequent belly-aching seem to make it that way.
But it would do well for the people who are pro-vaccination to make this delineation clear that they aren’t getting on people who have legitimate medical reasons to question or avoid the vaccine.
But now onto more serious things.
I’ve got a drawer full of Taco Bell sauce packets in my kitchen from the many times my wife and kids were given excess (I’m not much of a Taco Bell fan). So maybe you’re just being sensational and it’s not really the end times. 🙂
But if it is, maybe I could start selling some kind of survival kit that includes the Taco Bell packets as a big allurement.
KevinH,
I’m pro vaccine…but I think my “freedom” boundary is being coerced to inject something into ones body…irregardless of the validity of the reasons .
You could make a fortune right now selling those sauce packets…there were some upset folks at the drive through…I thought they were offering vaccines instead…
I totally get the concern of freedoms being violated if being made to inject something into your body and it’s not something I dismiss. I don’t think it should be mandated by the state to the extent of punishment if one does not get the vaccine. But for the purposes of safety of the public common good, I am okay with with it being required by the state or private businesses where there are regular gatherings of the public, such as the many vaccinations that are already required for school admittance.
If we didn’t already have out there so many illegitimate or at least exaggerated reasons for not getting the vaccine, likely there would be a much larger percentage of the country already vaccinated and then COVID very well could be continuing to dwindle to very little impact rather than making a comeback as it currently is, and then there would be little reason to even consider the need for vaccine mandates or requirements.
On the local Nextdoor neighborhood website, occasionally someone posts about…wait for it…vaccines and masks. These posts get the most comments (last one was over 120 comments). I cannot follow these anymore because I am sick of the fights and hostilities that ensure. Neighbors not acting like neighbors. People think the absolute worst of someone they disagree with. Tiring.
A coworker came down with COVID this past week and became very ill. It’s all academic until things hit close to home. That day said co-worker was diagnosed, my manager sent THREE other people home on the spot to start quarantine. Pray my co-worker recovers. I didn’t not gloat AT ALL that my co-worker was not vaccinated.
I can rifle thru our cabinet here at work and see if there are some Taco Bell sauce packets in there, but chances are they may be there from another decade/century.
My sympathies tend to lean hard in the direction of vaccinations.
I lean much harder now in favor of masking, as it’s known now that vaccinated people still can spread the damnable virus.
We live in a disinformation age…but it’s almost impossible now to separate the wheat from the chaff…
Dan,
I think it’s inevitable now that someone we know will get sick…a long time faithful friend and employee of mine died from the virus.
I’m not sure how to live with knowing this may not be over for years…
Dan, sshhhh. I’m not mentioning the potential age of some of my packets. It could ruin sales of my survival kits.
I didn’t dare tell Kevin that there are cat food shortages as well… 🙂
Next-door used to be great for finding lost pets and handymen…now it’s just another way to hate your neighbors…
Michael,
The hard thing is that most, if not all of those who are so adamant in their refusal of vaccines are just as strongly and loudly opposed to masks. Masks are far less of an encroachment on one’s freedom of their own body, but you would never know that from the “resisting” crowd. I don’t think bringing back requirements for masking is going to go over any better than establishing any requirements for vaccines.
Kevin,
I completely agree.
The reality for us here is that even as we set new infection records every day, any mitigation attempts will be met with fierce opposition and probably violence.
My folks who can afford to do so are stocking up on everything…because it could be dangerous in many ways to go out soon.
Regarding #2-we do require vaccinations in other spheres of life for very good reasons. When my nephew went to the Middle East, he had to have a bunch of shots (and he was current on everything else he had). As a school teacher I am required to be TB tested every two years, which involves a prick on my arm. For children in my state, California, you really need to be able to prove that your child can’t be immunized-on chemo, allergies (doctor’s note), your religious views (not just what you believe because you saw random person in a lab coat on YouTube talking about the evils of vaccines). A number of school districts in my area also require COVID vaccination or weekly testing for staff. Traditionally, our society has supported vaccination for the majority of people. I don’t want to tie anyone down and say they have to take a needle in their arm, but at the same time if that is their position with this extremely contagious variant, I think they need to be aware of the consequences of non-vaccination for themselves, as well as for others.
I teach elementary students. Delta is moving through schools rapidly in our area, and I am just waiting for the announcement that we will start on line this fall. I hope that doesn’t happen, but it’s what I’m anticipating. My school begins in two weeks.
And, finally, for a personal observation from my own life (something that i have no control over)-I can’t sit in the emergency row of an airplane because of my disability. I can’t open the door, and someone will need to throw me down the slide and pick me up at the bottom if I’m ever on a flight where an emergency occurs. Certain issues bring certain trade-offs. And, by the way, I find it interesting that the majority of anti-vaxxers are also anti CRT (although they often cant’ tell you what it is), still believe that Trump lost the election, and often are sympathetic or outright members of Q-Anon. Go figure.
Linn,
The required vaccinations we mandate now have an established track record.
These vaccines do not and the long term effects are unknown.
I read a peer reviewed study yesterday of a side effect I’d never heard of…that was inevitably fatal.
It’s rare…so far…but there are enough of these to raise questions in my mind.
I was vaccinated because I measured the risk/reward…I would do so again, but the margin is thinner between the two.
I get the revulsion to the Q scabulon.
We had a family member who scoffs at masks and vaccines while believing that Biden is a clone and there are trans-Atlantic tunnels full of sex trafficked children…
It seems to me that we have lost the concept of civil society, which involves both rights and responsibilities.
Years ago, I was ordered under the penalty of arrest and imprisonment to present myself before a selective service board to have people I did not know give me a physical and then, if found fit, to be trained to fight in a war which I vehemently disagreed with…
I’ve received a summons for jury duty. I must report at a certain place and a certain time to be evaluated. If I do not appear, a warrant will be issued for my arrest.
I made the mistake of driving in a convertible to get a Starbucks latte one mile from my home. I forgot to put on my safety belt, was pulled over and paid a $50 fine.
Our lives are filled with such responsibilities. We do things for the common good without insisting upon our “rights”
Let me make this even more personal. Michael is a friend of mine. He’s just had surgery. Covid could be a death sentence. For the life of my friend, I would wear a mask for the next ten years if need be. More than that, I know that Michael would do the same for my Type 1 Diabetic wife.
The issue of masks should not be an issue in a civilized society. The vaccine issue may be slightly more nuanced, but it is not wholly dissimilar…
“More than that, I know that Michael would do the same for my Type 1 Diabetic wife.’
Absolutely!
Because of the current outbreak, I wear a mask in my own house if T is here…because he can’t be vaccinated.
Because I’d rather have him here than gone…
So, I think in light of what you and Duane posted, Michael, that the need to vaccinate is almost a given. That still needs to take into account those who cannot be vaccinated (and that is a very small percentage, if what I have been reading and hearing is correct). Those who truly cannot be vaccinated need to be protected, and family and church should be the first to take those steps.
Linn,
With the info we have today, the needle still points to as many being vaccinated as possible.
However, with booster shots already being recommended, I have some doubts about where we really are…in addition to the documented side effects for some.
Interesting comments. Plenty to think about. My father in law passed away from COVID in January. Not the flu. COVID. Now my co-worker who I enjoy talking about guitar playing is sick. I am beginning to see Nextdoor as another offshoot of Facebook, and yes Michael it has become another way to hate others.
Dan,
Praying for your friend.
These are terribly complex and confounding times…
Duane at 1:54 pm expresses my beliefs on the issue of masks and vaccines.
When if life insurance companies and health insurance companies started incorporating vaccinations into their underwriting standards? Are the unvaccinated (those who resist out of no medical necessity) willing to pay the fair value of their unprotection via increased premiums?
And are employers and businesses (offices, restaurants, hotels, airlines, resorts, cruise ships, etc.) also free to protect their employees and customers from the unvaccinated? In other words, is freedom bi-lateral?
Jean,
I think it’s inevitable that those questions will have to be answered by the Supreme Court…
Michael,
I understand. I guess I’m a bit more medically optimistic and thankful that they were able to come up with something (the vaccine). I know all new medical technologies have risks. I had my first hip replacement at 18, which is still very unusual-but hip replacements were still very unusual for the majority then, too (late 70s). We went through all the risks (infection being the big one), but walking was important, also. So, I had it done. There were some bumps along the way, and some infection, but I lived a full life of almost 30 years on that hip. Now on #2, which was also a big surgery because of the bone parts I was missing when born. It wasn’t entirely successful, but I can get around with my walker, work, do church, spoil my cat-I’m happy. I can’t even think of how much courage it must take to face heart surgery. So, I may be a bit more of a risk taker when it comes to things like vaccines. By the way, I’ve never even batted my eyes at my friends doing chemo who can’t take a shot right now, Even those who are more into conspiracy theories, unless they really ask me, I nod and wish them well. Of course, once they know I already have the mark of the beast, they usually don’t want to talk to me anyway.
Dan,
I dropped off of NextDoor shortly after the start of the pandemic. I was always struggling with the “colorization” of all criminal elements in our neighborhood by the white ladies who posted, and then all the conspiracy theories popped up. it was originally a nice way to stay current with the neighborhood and give unwanted stuff away-not anymore.
Linn,
I would love to be more optimistic..but I’m finding too many under reported and ignored caution signs to do so.
Not that I’m a naturally optimistic guy anyway… 🙂
“Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already [fully] justified, but gather instead to seek together the common good.”
Epistle of Barnabas 4,10
“Is human wellbeing found in the good of the whole society, the common good? Yes.”
Augustine, City of God
Duane,
I love those quotes. I learned early on as a missionary that when working with the poor, there are just some things that need to be done. Food, clothing, medical care are often the way to share the love of Jesus. My “in” has always seemed to be educational-tutoring, Bible classes for kids, ESL.
vaccines…. what they’re not telling you (ask a smart, independent thinking health care worker) is that the covid vaccine is not really a “vaccine”….
not saying don’t get “vaccinated” – just saying it isn’t really a vaccination in the accepted sense of the term….
The push to mandate vaccines puzzles me:
1. The vaccines are not FDA approved as Michael mentions above. In fact, there does not seem to be any way they could be approved given all the negative side effects.
2. The new variants are more contagious but less deadly by far than the original virus, just as other coronaviruses have evolved. We will all get Covid sooner or later whether we are vaccinated or not. Why then is there this enormous push to vaccinate everyone?
3. The existing vaccines are authorized for emergency use only. If an effective treatment emerges the authorizations go away. However, there is at least one proven effective treatment. https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientist-says-covid-19-could-be-treated-for-under-1day-675612 Withholding effective treatments has harmed/killed many.
4. If I have had Covid and/or have effective antibodies, why should I be required to get a vaccine?
JimV,
The vaccines will be FDA approved within 6 weeks.
Ivermectin is not approved for Covid treatment, nor is there any legit study that shows it’s effective.
Recommendations for non approved drugs will be reason for immediate banishment from the blog.
Period.
These vaccinations in my estimation are a marvel of scientific ingenuity and are extremely effective, powerful and mariculous. I can not imagine where we would be without them. With that said, the FDA and CDC should be completely transparent with it’s associated risks which I don’t think they have been. I’m not opposed to mandatory vaccination but with that I think there needs to price paid for those who can prove the vaccine caused an illness or death. In these cases individuals should be allowed to sue both the government and the makers of the vaccines. Right now these companies have immunity which is a problem.
I don’t think I crossed the line, Michael. I like to read about medical developments and am optimistic that this will all soon pass.
As to my second point, here is an interesting article about how the horrific 19th century “Russian Flu” Corona Virus pandemic apparently flared out over time and is still with us:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/08/the-current-pandemic-isnt-the-first-caused-by-a-coronavirus/